In fact, when the stakes are high, hiring the right team members can be the difference between success and failure.

With that in mind, it’s important to assess the various recruitment methods when growing your tech team. These methods include:

Contingency search

Internal recruiters

Embedded Talent Partners

In this blog we’ll break down the different methods you have available to you and the pros and cons of each one.

Contingency Search

Contingency recruitment runs on a payment by results model. You pay the agency a percentage of the fee against the candidates salary offered.

Pros:

Payment by results. You only pay when the candidate has started.

There is usually some form of rebate system that gives you an element of protection if the hire doesn’t work out.

Considering contingency search is based on an assignment basis, you don’t need to guarantee a set amount of work.

You can spread a wide net quickly by allowing several agencies work on each assignment.

Cons:

Contingency recruitment can be time consuming. You will be sent a high quantity of CVs and often many won’t fit your requirements.

The fees can be very high. As much as 35% of the gross salary for each candidate hired in some cases.

There is no guarantee that you will be sent the best candidates. For example, if an agency has higher fees agreed elsewhere, they will send their best candidates to that client to ensure they can maximise profits.

When a contingency agency engages with a candidate, the start up has little control over how their brand is being projected.

Candidates are generally presented to multiple clients. This means you will have more competition if you decide to make an offer to the candidate.

Unless the Consultant is a specialist in your area, they may not fully understand your needs or the breadth and quality of the candidates skill-sets.

Internal Recruiter

Many start ups are now hiring internal recruiters in anticipation of rapid growth.

Internal Recruiters have varied roles. As well as recruiting for multiple vacancies they will also be responsible for building an employer brand and onboarding new hires.

Pros:

You have someone who can dedicate themselves to building a strong employer brand.

Having someone internal means you can better monitor and measure your recruitment process.

An Internal Recruiter can build a database of candidates that you can contact for future roles.

You will be able to run an employee referral programme which will increase time to hire and engage with your existing staff.

Being based in the business, you will be able to have open communication lines which means you will be able to have full transparency in the hiring process.

If you hire a technical consultant with years of experience, they will have a strong personal network which could reduce time to hire.

An Internal Recruiter should better understand the business needs and culture. This means candidates recommended should be a better fit for your high-growth start-up.

Cons:

You will have limited outreach – there are only so many hours in a day and so many people one person can reach out to.

If you no longer need to grow, you may be paying a large salary when it is no longer needed.

Hiring a talented Internal Recruiter who specialises in tech roles will come with a large cost (salary, NI insurance, benefits etc).

It often takes to a lot of time build a robust and well experienced internal team.

By having access to only one mind, you may see limitations in technical knowledge and network.

If the business (or key decision maker) has never had experience of hiring an Internal Recruiter it will be difficult to know what this person should look like or the many shapes of recruiter.

Unless the Consultant is a specialist in your area, they may not fully understand your needs or the breadth and quality of the candidates’ skill-sets.

Internal Recruiters are often given extra responsibilities which means they may get distracted from sourcing key roles.

Embedded Talent Partners

Embedded Talent Partners is a relatively new model that is a perfect blend of contingency and internal recruitment, optimised for technical recruitment.

Talent Partners are provided by a consultancy firm and are paid either monthly, time or project based.

Embedded Talent Partners will brand themselves just like an Internal Recruiter whilst being able to stop and start services as and when you need.

Pros:

You have one person onsite for constant communication and guidance but also get access to multiple minds and networks.

You can start and stop the service to align with business needs.

You get increased brand awareness for free. Talent Partners live and breathe your brand and culture and know how to sell your story in the best way possible.

Talent Partners are proactive in engaging with passive candidates – get the best talent, not the most available.

In summary, when deciding how to grow your start up, the new embedded talent partner model is a strong consideration.

Scede.io are pioneers in this model and have helped 30 technology companies scale since launch, including Supercell, Farmdrop and Bulb.

We work with high growth gaming studios to ensure they hire the best staff for their companies and their environments. We work with you, on site, as part of your team. We’ve helped to build teams for Supercell, Klarna, Farmdrop and more. If you’d like help building your team, get in touch here .